I am not one who puts a ton of stock into college rankings…but since my child is at Juniata, I was happy to see that their US News & World Report ranking jumped from 106 to 86 this year! My freshman is enjoying his first year so far. Any other experiences to share?
Did you daughter see a corresponding jump is the type of students admitted or the academics or anything? Some schools game ratings and others attend to genuine improvement-knowing that genuine improvement may not raise ranks. Don’t know which of the two is most true for Juniata. What do you think?
U.S. News & World Report significantly changed their rankings methodology this year. As reported here: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/10/us-news-college-rankings-formula-813559
That probably accounts for the jump. A school like Juniata that’s test-optional, with a high acceptance rate, but that also emphasizes economic diversity, likely benefited from all of the improvements to the formula.
I had heard that the new ranking formula favors schools that give a more diverse set of kids (socioeconomically) an opportunity. This may have benefitted Juniata. My daughter has no basis for comparison, since it is her first year at the school. She is happy there so far though.
You do realize that the ranking you cite is only LACs.
i like College Niche better which includes all colleges together and ranks them. Juniata is #292 which is probably more in line with their “true” ranking.
I also like how College Niche breaks it down further for example Best College for Biology, etc.
For people who are limiting their search to LACs, this is the ranking that matters.